Of pressures, failures and effort
by Gryff21
Summary: Behind every misfortunes, there's always a gift. Ellie may thought she had gave up after numerous times of failiures but little did she know she had a certain redhead to comfort her and give her strength to face every challenge.


The sound of door been slammed echos across the hallway. If one's had excellent hearing, they might heard some quiet sobbing.

Ellegaard wipes her eyes again, only to have fresh tears replacing each drop repeatedly. A part of her told her to stop crying for Notch's sake but given the pressure, failures and effort she had to face lately deemed impossible.

But what makes a smart and sassy redstonist apprentice like her broke down in the first place?

Earlier, Ellie's had been close, so close, to complete one of her big project - _a flying vehicle consisting of redstone blocks, slime blocks and the likes-_ as she has been working on it for 3 months. She was unable to finish it right on schedule because one, the rising heroes of the Order of the Stone had to do some mission and errands. Two, the lack of materials as she had to mine enough redstone and other stuff to gain enough materials.

 _The third one is the cause of her breakdown._

During the dreadful months, Ellie and her machine had faced too many obstacles such as the other members somehow had a way to ruin her build - _accidently and intentionally-_ . For example, the constant TNT explosion, courtesy of Magnus himself, to pick a fight with Ellegaard. Everytime they had one of their fight, it didn't end well even for the ones who didn't take part in the life-threatning event.

Gabriel had once or twice involved in the destruction of her machine. Because sometimes, he volunteered to guard her lab when she had something else to do. Gabriel caught Magnus red-handed trying to set up some TNT and stealing her stuff as he was too lazy to get it himself - _one of the reasons why she alway_ _s didn't had enough materials-._ The two had a fight and somehow accidiently lit up the TNT.

As for Ivor, he sometimes ask her for some of her materials for his potions and promised to give her some of his redstone dust later. The problem is, he _did_ gave her some material for her machine but other and most of the stuff he gave her is completely and utterly useless. He had once gave her a sapling - _which Ellegaard use to beat up Ivor afterwards-._

Back to the beginning, she was close to complete her project whe suddenly, several TNTs hidden by Magnus in the machine explode as she activated the circuit. Luckily, the explotion didn't affect her.

 _But the machine on the other hand.._

It was reduced to no more than some levers and repeaters floating, ready to be picked up by their owner.

But it didn't happened.

" All of this for **nothing**!" she cried to herself as she stormed out of her lab and rushed to her room, not bothering to greet- _or apologize_ \- to the person she just bumped. The person fell with an " _oof!" ._ She quickly open the door and slammed it hard, locking it until who knows when.

As she sat on her bed, she heard a series of knocking on her door. "Go away!" she demanded, not ready to face the world. After awhile, the random knocking suddenly turned into a certain pattern of knocks.

Ellie's ear immediately caught the sounds, recognizing it as the sound her best friend's knocking reserved only to her door.

She wipes her eyes again and went to open it.

As she opened it, she was greeted by the expression of worry on Soren's.

"Everything's alright?"

"Honestly, I rather had a staring competition with a haunting of enderman"

Soren couldn't help but chuckled before asking her permission to enter,which she gladly granted. As he stepped in and locked her door to give way to their privacy, he asked again "What's wrong? I was just about to see your progress but then you just stormed out and ignored me. Anything to talk about?"

"It's nothing. Trust me".

"Riiiiiiightttt".

"Seriously! It's nothing!" but her tears threatning to fall again.

"I doubt it".

But Ellie kept her ground, she wouldn't give up. Moments later, Soren opened his arm, his expression invites her. She wasted no time and immediately closed the gap between them. His arms tightly securing around her back like her's around his neck as she cried to his chest.

He guide them to seat on her bed. When they did, he let go of her but leaving his other arm around her shoulder as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Now, are you telling me or not?". After a moment, Ellegaard's finally gave in to his compassion.

" Magnus...Gabriel...Ivor...the machine...TNTs...I... " she kept on her rant. He embraced her again and lay both of them on the bed.

She was crying on his chest as they lay on their side, keeping her arms around him as if she let go even for a second, she would break into million pieces. He rubbed his hand up and down her back to comfort her while tightly embracing her. She kept on crying and let her emotions burst out.

Minutes later, she calls for him "Soren?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you for always be there for me"

He smiled "Anything for you, m'lady"

They both chuckled. When they stopped, her smile turned into a frown. " I don't think I could do the project again" she confessed. Soren was shocked. Ellegaard? Cancelling her projects? "Why? You never gave up on yourself. I never gave up on you!" he exclaimed.

"Really?"

"Like always" he assured her, as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. " I'll always with you, no matter what". Ellie can't help but feel appreciated by his words. She gently pull his head down to kiss his cheek. He blushed madly. She giggled. "Thank you again, Soren".

"You're welcome, now get some rest".

"You're right, I might had other ideas tomorrow. And this time, you'll help me"

"The invitation is accepted."

They both kept on lying on the bed, in each other's arm, an innocent gesture. As if his words are a charm, Ellegaard feels sleepy. Drowning in his comfort and warmthshe dozed off to dream world. After confirming that she was fast asleep, he gently slip away from her, stopping for a minute when she shifted. He sighed in relief as he pulled the sheets and put it on her before turning to leave.

When he reached to unlock the door, he stopped and turn around to walk back to her bed. He gently kissed her forehead as she smiled in her sleep, as if she just sensed it. He smiled and turned around again to open the door, leaving her in the dream world.


End file.
